JfaUmtmtg  %  3 kg 

to 

fortn  lint 

b/ 

'Ifev.  N  .M .  VtuAV  m  son 


Literature  Department 
The  Woman’s  Missionary  Association 
United  Brethren  in  Christ 
406-408  Otterhein  Press  Bldg.,  Dayton,  O. 
Price  2  Cents 


JfTflllmutng  tij?  JUaij  to 
Porto  Sira 

REV.  N.  H.  HUFFMAN 

The  Stars  and  Stripes  entered  Porto  Rico, 
July  25,  1898,  by  the  beautiful  Guanica  Bay, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  island.  Far  up  on 
the  mountain  sides  many  people  saw  the 
flashing  of  the  searchlights  as  the  warships 
wound  their  wa y  through  the  narrow  chan¬ 
nel  into  the  safe  harbor,  but  they  knew  not 
that  it  was  the  foregleam  of  a  new  day  for 
their  beloved  island  home. 

The  entrance  of  the  American  flag  was 
the  doom  of  the  religious  tyranny  that  for 
so  long  had  oppressed  and  repressed  the 
Porto  Rican  people.  It  threw  wide  open  the 
door  by.  which  the  pure  light  of  Bible  Chris¬ 
tianity  could  shine  in  upon  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  people,  bringing  life  and  good 
cheer  to  all  who  were  disposed  to  receive 
the  gospel. 

The  first  sermon  preached  in  the  Spanish 
language  by  a  United  Brethren  missionary, 
was  delivered  in  the  open  air  on  the  shady 
side  of  a  poor  house  in  the  suburbs  of  the 
city  of  Ponce.  The  fact  that  the  poor  had 
the  gospel  preached  to  them  was  a  signif¬ 
icant  omen,  an  evidence  that  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  had1  come  near.  All  over  the  island 
of  Porto  Rico  the  poor  who  were  helplessly 
poor  and  despised  because  they  were  poor, 
suddenly  found  friends  in  the  Protestant 
missionaries.  New  hope  came  into  their 
lives  and  new  aspirations  stirred  in  their 
bosoms.  Freed  from  destructive  vices  and 
spurred  into  action  by  new  ambitions,  many 
as  if  by  magic,  stepped  out  of  the  squalor 
of  poverty  into  a  life  of  self-respect  and  of 
usefulness  in  society.  Others  who  by.  rea¬ 
son  of  circumstances  over  which  they  had 
no  control,  could  not  escape  material  pov¬ 
erty,  found  spiritual  riches  and  came  to 
value  them  as,  after  all,  the  true  riches. 


While  halls  were  rented  and  churches  and 
chapels  were  built  for  worship  and  the 
preaching  of  the  Word,  open-air  services  re¬ 
mained  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of 
getting  a  hearing  for  the  gospel.  It  takes 
some  grace  and  courage  to  stand  up  before  a 
curious  and  perhaps  hostile  crowd,  or  worse 
still,  to  stand  up  and  begin  in  doubt  as  to 
whether  or  not  a  crowd  will  gather  and 
listen  to  you.  But  the  missionary  must  ex¬ 
perience  some  discomfort  and  expose  him¬ 
self  at  times  to  some  danger  if  he  is  to  imi¬ 
tate  the  Good  Shepherd,  who  went  out  after 
the  lost  sheep.  An  old  lady  who  long  had 
been  faithful  to  the  Roman  Church,  in  the 
belief  that  it  was  the  true  fold,  and  that 
Protestantism  was  of  the  devil,  was  con¬ 
verted  by  means  of  a  service  held  in  the 
street  in  front  of  her  own  door.  Surely,  she 
argued,  the  priest  can’t  scold  me  if  I  hear 
the  preaching  from  within  my  own  house. 
As  she  listened  to  a  gospel  sermon  for  the 
first  time  in  her  life,  she  suddenly  discov¬ 
ered  how  vain  and  profitless  had  been  all 
her  devotion  to  the  Roman  church.  The 
gospel  immediately  found  a  response  in  her 
heart  and  she  became  an  active  Christian  be¬ 
liever. 

In  an  island  so  thickly  populated  as  Porto 
Rico,  where  so  little  attention  had  been 
given  to  hygiene  and  where  vice  was  so 
widespread,  it  is  not  strange  that  diseases 
also  should  be  found  widespread  in  distress¬ 
ing  and  revolting  forms.  Nor  is  it  strange 
‘.hat  our  missionaries  should  seek  to  alleviate 
to  some  extent  the  physical  suffering  of  the 
people  and  take  an  active  part  in  the  min¬ 
istry  of  healing.  This  led  to  the  founding  of 
a  few  well-equipped  hospitals  and  the  open¬ 
ing  of  many  dispensaries.  Our  own  Church 
founded  no  hospitals,  but  has  been  active  in 
dispensary  work.  In  some  cases,  medical 
missionaries  attended  these  dispensaries;  in 
others,  physicians  and  surgeons  have  given 
free  of  charge,  their  services  for  one  or 
more  half-days  each  week.  Thus  an  incal¬ 
culable  amount  of  good  work  has  been  done. 
And,  mind  you,  this  work  has  not  been  ear¬ 


ned  on  simply  as  a  bait  to  win  the  sympathy 
of  the  people.  It  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  an  expression  of  true  Christian  love 
and  desire  to  render  helpful  service  to  suf¬ 
fering  humanity.  If  it  did  bring  sympa¬ 
thetic  hearers  to  the  gospel  services  and  re¬ 
sulted  in  the  spiritual  healing  of  many 
souls,  surely  no  one  need  complain,  for  the 
gospel  finds  its  truest  expression  and  most 
winsome  influence  in  helpful  service  ren¬ 
dered  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  Growing 
out  of  this  medical  work,  many  have  been 
won  who  might  never  have  been  reached  in 
any  other  way.  Some  of  those  thus  reached 
have  caught  the  spirit  of  those  who  brought 
healing  to  them,  and  are  in  turn  passing  on 
the  ministry  of  healing  and  salvation  to 
others. 

One  of  the  best  tests  as  to  whether  or  not 
the  gospel  is  really  taking  root  in  the  life 
of  a  people,  is  the  measure  of  their  partici¬ 
pation  in  the  support  and  propagation  of  the 
gospel.  And  likewise  one  of  the  tests  of 
faithful  missionary  work  is  the  teaching  of 
the  grace  of  giving.  That  this  teaching  has 
not  been  neglected  in  our  Porto  Rican  mis¬ 
sion  and  that  it  has  not  been  fruitless,  we 
have  witness  in  the  financial  reports  made 
from  year  to  year,  showing  a  substantial 
and  increasing  amount  contributed  by  the 
native  churches  for  the  support  of  their  own 
work  as  w'ell  as  of  that  in  other  lands.  The 
last  report  shows  a  total  for  all  purposes  the 
amount  of  $1,833.14.  At  every  annual  con¬ 
ference,  emphasis  is  given  to  the  question 
of  self-support,  and  methods  are  adopted 
which  are  giving  results.  A  more  spectac¬ 
ular  evidence  of  the  liberality  of  the  Porto 
Rican  Christians  we  find  in  the  six  or  eight 
rural  chapels  erected  by  their  combined  ef¬ 
forts  during  the  last  ten  years.  From  these 
chapels  the  bells  ring  out  their  invitations 
in  obedience  to  the  command,  “Let  him  that 
heareth  say  come.”  Thus  our  gifts  to  the 
missionary  work  in  Porto  Rico  have  opened 
up  in  that  island  a  fountain  of  missionary 
giving,  and  who  can  tell  how  far  this  stream 
of  beneficence  may  flow? 


4 


i 


Does  any  one  regret  that  we  followed  the 
flag  into  Porto  Rico  with  the  gospel?  None 
of  the  missionaries  sent  here  to  represent  us 
have  expressed  any  regret  for  the  privilege 
of  pouring  out  their  energies  in  that  field  of 
labor.  The  ringing  testimonies  of  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  native  churches  contain  no  note 
of  regret,  but  rather  great  joy  and  gratitude 
for  the  privilege  of  hearing  the  gospel.  Some 
of  our  colaborers  who  in  years  past  have 
contributed  liberally  to  this  mission,  have 
passed  on  to  their  reward  in  heaven,  and 
have  met  there  redeemed  souls  who  have 
gone  to  the  glory  land  from  the  mission 
churches  in  Porto  Rico.  We  can  be  sure 
that  their  only  regret  is  not  to  have  done 
more  for  a  cause  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  our 
Master  and  so  fruitful  in  soul-saving.  Let 
us,  therefore,  be  not  weary  in  well-doing, 
but  with  willing  hearts  and  ready  hands, 
“labor  on  till  the  close  of  day/’ 

Some  Conditions  We  Have  to  Overcome. 

Missionary  work  in  all  lands  must  meet 
with  conditions  which  are  not  favorable  to 
the  establishment  of  Christianity.  Those 
who  engage  successfully,  in  this  work  need 
to  be  of  the  overcoming  sort.  It  is  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  either  overcoming  or  being  over¬ 
come. 

On  the  threshold  of  the  work  the  mission¬ 
ary  finds  himself  confronted  with  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  language.  There  is  no  royal 
road  to  the  learning  of  a  language.  Some 
drudgery  required  in  that,  some  patience  and 
some  persistence.  Just  think  of  the  labored 
effort  to  express  one’s  self  and  the  embar¬ 
rassments  at  the  discovery  of  mistakes  after 
it  is  too  late  to  correct  them !  But  this  is 
a  condition  that  must  be  overcome.  From 
reports  received  from  those  competent  to 
judge,  our  missionaries  in  Porto  Rico  have 
all  overcome  this  condition  and  can  clearty 
and  forcefully  bring  the  gospel  message  to 
the  people  in  their  native  tongue. 


Another  condition  to  be  overcome  was 
the  opposition  of  the  Roman  clergy.  No 
form  of  tyranny  or  oppression  dies  easily. 
Entrenched  in  the  social,  political,  and  com¬ 
mercial  life  of  the  people,  the  Roman  priests 
resisted  strenuously  the  entrance  of  Prot¬ 
estantism  into  the  island.  They,  seized  and 
used  any  arm  that  might  serve  their  purpose, 
calumny,  ridicule,  appeal  to  false  patriotism. 
They  even  tried  to  imitate  the  good  work  of 
Protestant  missions,  which  was  one  good  re¬ 
sult,  at  least,  of  Protestant  effort. 

Spiritualism  was  another  adverse  condi¬ 
tion  in  Porto  Rico.  It  was  found  among 
the  highest  and  the  lowest  classes  of  soci¬ 
ety.  Its  presence  was  an  indication  that 
many  were  breaking  away  from  the  Cath¬ 
olic  Church  and  that  still  there  was  within 
them  a  religious  instinct  looking  for  some¬ 
thing  to  take  its  place.  Some  fell  in  with 
the  Protestant  work  quite  readily,  but  when 
they  discovered  the  radical  difference  be¬ 
tween  their  doctrines  and  those  of  the  Bible, 
they  were  forced  either  to  give  up  their 
former  doctrines  or  withdraw  from  the 
church.  As  the  work  progressed,  this  dif¬ 
ference  became  better  understood  and  the 
separation  was  more  marked.  A  servant  in 
the  home  of  a  missionary  was  one  day  dis¬ 
covered  burning  two  books  in  the  kitchen. 
Upon  being  asked,  she  gave  the  informa¬ 
tion  that  they  were  spiritualistic  books  be¬ 
longing  to  two  friends  who  were  on  the  list 
of  seekers  in  the  church.  One  book  had 
been  surrendered  voluntarily  and  the  other 
had  been  surreptitiously  taken  for  the  good 
of  the  seeker. 

Another  serious  condition  to  be  overcome 
was  the  social  disorganization.  Shortly 
after  the  American  occupation,  statistics 
showed  that  fully  one-third  of  those  living 
in  conjugal  relations  had  no  religious  or 
legal  sanction  to  their  union,  and  that  forty 
per  cent,  of  the  births  were  reported  ille¬ 
gitimate.  This  condition  of  affairs  was  at 
the  same  time  both  an  evidence  of  the  need 
of  Protestant  missions  and  a  challenge  to 
the  faith  and  courage  of  those  who  had  a 
higher  ideal  for  human  society. 

7 


Religious  indifference  was  another  condi¬ 
tion  to  be  overcome.  In  a  country  where 
the  religious  leaders  made  such  a  pretense 
to  holiness  and  used  so  frequently  in  their 
speech  terms  of  the  highest  moral  and  spir¬ 
itual  significance,  and  at  the  same  time 
lived  lives  so  at  variance  with  their  profes¬ 
sion,  it  was  but  natural  that  many  of  the 
people  should  note  their  lack  of  sincerity 
and  lose  all  interest  in  religious  things.  A 
noted  man  of  the  island,  in  a  public  address, 
made  the  remark  that  Porto  Rico  was  soul- 
sick  and  that  its  disease  was  spiritual  indif¬ 
ference.  One  of  the  tasks  of  Protestant 
missions,  therefore,  was  to  put  a  new  note 
of  sincerity  in  religious  profession  and  give 
to  the  gospel  an  interpretation  that  would 
grip  the  heart  of  the  people. 

The  dynamic  power  of  the  gospel  has 
again  been  put  to  the  test  in  meeting  the 
adverse  conditions  mentioned  and  has  dem¬ 
onstrated  its  efficiency  in  intrenching  itself, 
in  spite  of  these  obstacles,  in  the  life  of  the 
people,  and  setting  in  motion  influences  that 
are  making  for  a  greater  and  better  Porto 
Rico. 


6 


